Pune:  Officials of the city police crime branch unit IV have arrested Advocate Sushil Mancharkar for hatching a murder plot of former corporator Kailash Kadam. The incident came to light while police officials were investigating the case of three accused fleeing from police custody from Morwadi court.

The three accused identified as Raju Mahadev Patre alias Kalya, Santosh Machindra Jagtap and Santosh Chandilkar alias Lubhya managed to escape while they were being brought back from Pargaon Khandala in Satara district after a court appearance. Officials of crime branch said that the accused visited their residence in Chinchwad and was helped by Suresh Zende for their escape from police custody of five policemen.

The police also found that there was a dispute between Mancharkar and Kadam in the general body meeting of PCMC in 2015 and hence, Mancharkar planned the murder of Kadam. The police said that Mancharkar had planned to pay Rs 30 lakh to the three accused after the murder.

On April 9, RTI activist of PCMC Suhas Haldankar was murdered in Pimpri and Kailash Kadam’s brother Sadguru Kadam was arrested by the police along with 10 others in the murder case.

The accused Mancharkar and Zende have been sent to police custody till September 19.

Mancharkar’s wife Geeta is Nationalist Congress Party’s corporator in Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.